Update

Last night on the 10 pm shift, the stars were unusually clear and Gavin and Phil engaged in their-by now usual- animated discussion of the milky way, constellations, planets, and even life in outer space! Around 11:30, the moon came up and slowly, like a giant eraser, removed most of the night stars proving that the milky way was not just another set of clouds. Phil got up and contemplated a much needed nap when out to port he saw a couple of lights on the horizon. We were alert and trying to figure out what it was. The lights seem to get clearer, faster compared to the other night when the Cosco Fukuyama came nearby. When the vessel was 8 nautical miles away, the AIS details came up. We were in its path! The GL Primera, a 185 m (600+ feet) heading to Panama had decided to visit. There were three options from riskiest to safest, to keep going, to make radio contact, or to simply turn around. So we doused the spinnaker and took a U turn. After it passed, and we always maintained a couple miles, we were safely back on our way. Safety remains our top priority.

The winds have died down a bit and speeds are back to a slower pace. We are confident about making it back to SF in time but the half-way mark seems far off right now.

-Gautam

In other news, the past 24 hours have really been about the brownies Phil baked last night. And, all day long, coming in and out of shifts, everyone was gorging on brownies. At one point, there were brownie tracks all over the cockpit which had to get washed out. In fact, by the time dinner came around, no one wanted any dessert. Enough! Bastante!